The Less I Know The Better [complete]

43 ;; George's house

"I don't think they'll be bothering us anymore."

They all smiled back, and that was the end of it. They pushed through the front doors and made their way to their lockers, chatting occasionally, but there was an interruption just as John had opened his - a finger tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned around to see Stuart standing there, smiling at John despite looking a bit uncomfortable, and he followed his gaze to see what was making him uncomfortable; Paul came over to stand next to John, jaw clenched and his eyes flashing with what was obviously dislike and jealousy. Obviously, he hadn't forgotten about John telling him of his and Stu's past. He couldn't help but grin in amusement at that.

"Hey, John. Um.. could we talk?"

"Yeah, 'course." John nodded slowly, turning to his other friends - George and Ringo were in a conversation of their own, yet Paul looked far from pleased at the idea of John and Stu talking alone. He sent the other boy a comforting smile, touching his elbow for a moment and murmuring "I'll be back in a second" before following Stu out of earshot from them. He could feel Paul's eyes following them, but he ignored it.

"How are you? They told me they caught up to you." Stu asked worriedly, eyes catching on the bruises on his face and the cut on his lip. "How badly did they beat you?"

"Oh, it could've been worse, actually," John shrugged, opting for flippancy even though he knew he wouldn't forget about it anytime soon. "These guys in these apartment blocks yelled out and they ran for it. But they still got me, yeah," He paused, nudging Stuart's shoulder when he didn't reply, guilt written all over his face. "Oy, it's fine. Imagine what could've happened if you didn't warn me before. They could've really beaten me to a pulp, then."

Stuart nodded slowly. "I guess." He met his eyes. "I'm done with those bastards. They just suck."

John grinned at him, pleased with that; he had noticed that Stuart had been with them less and less within the past weeks after coming back for the second semester. Stuart was a good guy - he shouldn't hang out with those blokes. Pete Shotton, too. He just hoped he'd have enough sense to follow Stuart's footsteps.

"That's good." They were silent for a long moment.

"There's got to be a reason as to why your boyfriend's giving me a death glare, hasn't there?" Stuart raised an amused eyebrow at him, jerking his head in the direction of Paul behind them; John glanced around to see Paul was standing with George and Ringo, obviously trying to be a part of the conversation, but his attention kept wandering back to them. When Paul met John's gaze he flushed profusely and looked away.

"Oh.. I told him about. Y'know," He turned back to Stu with an awkward shrug. "Our past." He panicked for a second, worried that his friend might get pissed at him bringing it back up, but he only smiled softly, obviously not bothered.

"I get it." He paused, and then in one swift move, pulled John into a hug. John held him back for a brief moment before they pulled away, smiling at each other. "I'll leave you guys to it, then."

John knew, in that moment, it was a parting of the ways in a sense. Stuart had mentioned to him about how he was leaving the school to go to art college, how he had never had that much of an interest in music and had only been there because of John wanting him to come with him; and since they didn't exactly spend as much time together as they used to, he had decided to move on and pursue what he was actually interested in. They probably wouldn't see each other all that often, and while John was certainly sad about it, he knew that there wasn't much to do to change it. They had both moved on, in a way.

"We're still friends, right?" John blurted, because of course his insecurities had to make themselves known again.

"Of course, John." Stu rolled his eyes, sending him a warm smile. "We'll always be friends."